Plus, ex-FBI chief Robert Mueller named special prosecutor in Russia-Trump probe.

By Robert Gammon

Published: May 18, 2017

Stories you shouldn’t miss for May 18, 2017:

1. Nearly 12,000 people applied for 32 affordable housing units at a new apartment complex in Alameda, reports Peter Hegarty of the East Bay Times$. The huge number of applications underscored the magnitude of the region’s housing crisis. ‘“That’s the measure of the need in our community,’ said Baker Lyon of Resources for Community Development, the Berkeley nonprofit that partnered with Alameda’s Housing Authority to build the $17.4 million project” known as Stargell Commons.

2. The Alameda City Council voted 3-2 to establish a just cause law that prohibits landlords from evicting tenants for no reason, reports Steven Tavares of the East Bay Citizen. Councilmembers Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Jim Oddie, and Malia Vella voted in favor of the new law, while Mayor Trish Spencer and Councilmember Frank Matarrese voted against. The new ordinance mandates that landlords must have a valid reason to evict renters—such as failure to pay rent or violating a lease agreement. Oakland and Berkeley have similar ordinances.

5. GOP House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, said in a recorded conversation before the election last year that he believed Trump was being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Washington Post$ reports. Spokespeople for McCarthy and GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was also present during the conversation, initially denied that it occurred, but then later said McCarthy was only joking.